Back in December, the Trump administration instituted a new rule, meant to go into effect on April 1, that would have kicked about 700,000 people off of the SNAP program by making it more difficult for states to waive work requirements for their own residents.

But this past Friday, calling the rule change "arbitrary and capricious," the notoriously badass DC District Court Judge Beryl Howell put a stop to that shit, issuing a national preliminary injunction on the rule change going into effect.

She wrote:

The low-income Americans targeted by USDA's Final Rule depend on monthly SNAP benefits to avoid hunger. These SNAP participants may wield little political or economic power, but, nonetheless, USDA's proposed changes to take away nutrition benefits from almost 700,000 people prompted "more than 100,000 comments," the "majority" of which the agency concedes were opposed to the proposed changes. 84 Fed. Reg. at 66783–84.

Notwithstanding these critical comments, USDA proceeded in the challenged Final Rule to adopt changes that, in some respects, were more draconian than those initially proposed. Although the hundreds of thousands of low-income individuals who stand to lose their benefits had little direct voice in that rulemaking process, the process exists to protect them and ensure that the agency cannot terminate their benefits arbitrarily.

She also noted that perhaps now, during a pandemic in which lots and lots of people are losing their jobs or are unable to work — much less able to go out to interviews to get work — is not the right time for this bullshit.

Yes, and I'm sure that Judge is now on Trump's hit list, as is everyone who doesn't kneel and kiss his ass.

Something my husband and I were discussing this morning is how much power will trump lose now that "his" people are realizing how incompetent he truly is. It feels like more people are standing up to him than ever before, and we couldn't help but wonder if it will become a trend because people who have been kissing his ass are finally seeing just how inconsequential he is right now. Maybe he'll be so swamped for the next 8 months that he won't get to the people on his hit list, or maybe so many people will defy him that he won't even know where to start.

Yes, and I'm sure that Judge is now on Trump's hit list, as is everyone who doesn't kneel and kiss his ass.

If his staff does not get to him first, I could see him going off on the judge which would be really bad optics right now. Unfortunately, those of his followers that are impacted by this will not see the connection until they are denied. That would not be until later and then blamed on the deep state.

If the staff gets to him, he will go off on the judge stating that they intended to hold off on the change due to the pandemic so the ruling was unnecessary. I suspect that would be a lie.

North-land: of the family 10
UCC 1-106 Plural is Singular, Singular is Plural.